Endings
by Random Guise
Summary: The IMF attempts to lure Dan Briggs out of retirement eight years after the end of the first season of the television show but he has a few conditions. I don't own these characters, and I can't afford to retire.


**A/N: Takes place eight years after the end of the first season of Mission: Impossible.  
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Endings

Dan Briggs sat back and smiled. Dan smiled a lot these days, for retirement suited him well. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, the sun was shining, the day promised to be warm but not hot and the newspaper beckoned with its crossword puzzle calling out to him.

But it was going to have to wait at least a little while.

His visitor had his full attention at the moment. An acquaintance from the old days when he lived another life, Alex Boulder had worked with him behind the scenes from his time with the Impossible Missions Force. He had shown up today, completely unannounced, selling cosmetics door to door. A ring of the doorbell and "Avalon calling!" had gotten him in, now the question remained of why was he here.

"In answer to your question Dan, I really do sell cosmetics now. It's not just a cover; Avalon is the career I've always dreamed about!"

"Great, remind me to see what you've got in shampoo later. But that can't be the real reason you're here" Dan prodded.

"Well...no, not really. We know you're retired now Dan but there's the one-off mission we'd like you to handle. When we didn't hear back from you after our initial contact they sent me to follow up. Didn't you get the letter?"

Dan smiled and reached for an envelope. "It was probably in here" he said as he lifted the flap and dumped some ash into the ashtray on the table. "I opened the envelope to read it, but got interrupted by a sales pitch on the phone and by the time I got back the letter had self-destructed before I got a chance to see it."

"It wasn't for a rival cosmetic company was it?" Alex asked anxiously.

"How would I know, it burned up."

"No, I mean the phone call."

"No Alex," he said shaking his head "it wasn't. Now, about the letter and the job?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I get caught up in this sales business sometimes. We've got a problem with Santa Costa again, and since it brought you back the last time we thought that we'd give you another crack at it."

"Santa Costa again, eh? Well, I'm no spring chicken Alex but the only way I'll consider it is if I've got the old team to work with. How are they doing?" Dan asked.

Alex fidgeted and handed a black case over to Dan.

Dan looked inside and pulled out the stack of files. There was quite a variety of glossy eight by ten close-ups, but none of the photos were of familiar people. "Who are these people? They could be television personalities for all I know. Where are all of my people?"

"They're perfectly good agents, Dan; they all come highly recommended. Thomas and Zinna both..."

"No, I asked where...are...my...people?" Dan's smile was fading.

Alex loosened his tie. "I can't tell you. The secretary has disavowed all knowledge..."

"WHERE!" Dan shouted, and then pulled himself together after he had surprised himself with his unexpected outburst.

"They're gone, Dan."

"Gone? What does that mean, gone? Off to Europe? Retired? What happened to Barney, did he go back to his business?" Barney Collier had an electronics business and was the tech wizard on many assignments. What the man didn't know about electronics he ended up teaching himself on the spot.

"Barney had an unfortunate accident. On an assignment he inadvertently tapped into some high-tension power lines and, well, ended up like the letter that was in that envelope."

"I find that hard to believe, the man was the consummate professional. What about Willy? I always thought he'd stay with us until he retired." Willy Armitage was a physically-fit muscled strongman that also doubled as fabricator and driver.

"There was an issue with some calculations and we used the wrong conversion factor for some foreign weight units. Instead of catching something that was supposed to be 100 pounds he tried to catch somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500 pounds. It...wasn't pretty."

Dan shook his head. "How about Cinnamon? What could have happened to her?" As the most experienced female member of Dan's old team, Cinnamon Carter used her beauty and experience as a model and actress to play up to various targets of their assignments.

"She went in for plastic surgery when an issue developed. She was trying to keep her youthful appearance but then had a severe allergic reaction to the anesthesia during the procedure and we lost her even with a medical team standing beside her."

Dan sat with his mouth agog in disbelief. "Barney. Willy. Cinnamon. All gone. Wait! There's still Rollin. Don't tell me he's dead?"

"Not that we know of. You remember how he and Cinnamon felt about each other."

"Of course. Everyone knew there was something between them, but we let them keep their privacy and never spoke of it among ourselves" Dan reminisced.

"Right" Alex continued. "Well, after Cinnamon left us Rollin...began to slip away. He lost focus, started drinking, and finally something snapped inside and he refused to believe she was gone. He developed some mental disorder and started uncontrollably slipping into and out of a lot of different personalities. He disappeared, and every once in a while we get a report of someone matching his physical description but by the time we investigate he's already changed into someone else and moved on; the last time was over a year ago now."

"Is Jim gone too?"

"No," Alex answered quickly "Jim is perfectly fine. He's on another assignment right now with some of the newer agents and isn't available for this particular job. What do you say, Dan?"

Dan handed back the files to Alex. "I'm sorry, but I can't. We were a team and worked together. These other agents may be fine and the best at what they do, but they're not MY people. Good luck Alex, but no more assignments for me. My heart wouldn't be in it now" he apologized with a hint of sadness.

"Okay Dan, I understand but we had to try. What about that shampoo now? I've got one here..."

...

The young waiter in Bermuda shorts and white t-shirt walked down the stretch of ocean-washed sand and stopped at the group under the oversized beach umbrella. "Can I refresh anyone's drinks?" he inquired as he looked on.

"Oh, I do believe this piña colada has gotten rather sad now that the ice is gone. How's your scotch, Rollin dear?" the swimsuit-clad knockout asked.

"I forgot all about it Cinnamon" the smiling man beside her said as he surveyed his glass. "Too busy enjoying the view I guess" he leered as his eyes fell on his wife and ignored the blue sky and ocean.

"I'd like another rum and Coke" the darker man spoke up "light on the rum."

"I think I'd like my juice to be orange this time" the Atlas-like man said from behind his dark glasses. "Blend in a raw egg if you can." This evoked groans from the other three friends. The waiter took the orders before he made his way back to the outdoor bar located down the beach.

"You know, Dan should be down here with us" Barney sighed as he shifted to his left side. "Jim may have decided to keep working, but we didn't."

"You mean officially retired as though we never even existed?" Willy asked. "The eternal Mr. Phelps _did_ give us his blessing."

"Oh, we existed all right" Rollin laughed. "Except now there's no way to tie any of our previous assignments to the IMF. Anything we do now, we do for ourselves. But we could go surprise Dan and invite him down here for a little R and R. I'm sure seeing us all at once after so many years would be something of a shock, but it might loosen him up a little."

"That would be a mission imaginable" Cinnamon purred as they all laughed.

The End

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 **A/N: If I wanted a longer version of the story I could have put them on the island from The Prisoner and had them escape, but they're RETIRED so life should be easier I think.**


End file.
